Become a Great Copywriter Without the Expensive Copywriting Courses

So, you want to put your writing skills to good use and offer them on a market with a neverending supply and demand? Then copywriting is the right job for you. All you need is to learn how to write copy, but that shouldn’t be too difficult, right? You just found a bunch of great copywriting courses promising to make you a marketing superstar in no time.

However, these copywriting courses often come with a hefty price. And while investing in your education and professional growth is great, real teachers never make lavish promises to make you GREAT at something REALLY FAST.

No skill can be developed overnight or even in one month. So in this article, I won’t try to sell you any products or copywriting courses. I will give you advice on developing your marketing skills and recommend several free copywriting courses.

What is, exactly, copywriting?

Copywriting is the process of creating content that aims to increase brand awareness and persuade a customer to buy your product.

It is one of the oldest and most intricate marketing skills. If you look around more carefully, marketing copy is everywhere – on billboards, in TV commercials, newspaper advertisements, and social media posts.

With the expansion of digital, personalized marketing, content marketing joined copywriting as one of the staples of a successful selling strategy. After a while, the two terms became synonymous with one another, but it is important to know the distinction – if you want to be a good copywriter.

Copywriting
Source: WritersWrite

Copywriting is created to produce immediate results (sales, subscription). Content marketing is part of a slow-burning strategy that seeks to build a relationship with a potential customer. The purpose of content is to inform, educate, inspire or entertain.

Although copywriting and content marketing are two different things, nowadays they usually go hand in hand, which is why it is important that you learn how to do both.

Copywriting Courses for Beginners

Now, if you are completely new to the world of content marketing and copywriting, you need a solid theoretical ground. And no, you don’t have to cash out $300 or $1000 to be told common sense things like “write good content” or “be engaging.”

Begin with this starter course from Hubspot Academy. Yes, I know that this one deals with content marketing – but this is where your journey should begin. This year, I also made my first steps in the world of digital marketing, and Hubspot has been an indispensable source of knowledge and actionable advice for me.

HubSpot content marketing

In this course, you will learn the basics of content writing. But its greater value lies in the fact that it also explains the basics of digital marketing.

See, in order to write a good copy, you cannot focus only on the text itself – you need to see the greater picture. You need to know what sales funnel is, your role in it, how your competitors sell their product, how Google algorithm works, how your success is measured. All of this may sound overwhelming, but by the time you’re done, this feeling will be replaced by self-confidence and inspiration to continue your journey.

Content Marketing Certification was created by a team of HubSpot Academy professors – there are 12 video lessons separated into 4 smaller sections. You can do them all at once in one afternoon, or take them day by day. This is the curriculum, and here is a detailed review of HubSpot Academy experience.

Hubspot curriculum

After each lesson, you have a small quiz to test your knowledge, and in the end, you get to do a certification exam. You have three hours to finish it – you pass only if more than 80% of your answers are correct.

If you make it, you get a certification badge you can display on your LinkedIn profile or mention in your CV. Given HubSpot’s good reputation and thought leadership in the world of digital marketing, it will help you land quite a few gigs.

HubSpot certified

Doesn’t look bad, huh? Now let’s address one problem you may have encountered if you already clicked on the subscription button. You have to sign up to access the course, and they are asking you to provide your website address.

It may be a drag, but you can quickly make one for the purposes of registration (for example creating a free blog with WordPress will take you 15 minutes). In time, you can customize this website and turn it into your portfolio – this will be of tremendous help when you compete for the copywriting gigs.

Now, on to the actual copywriting courses. I have two suggestions.

The first one comes from Eduonix. Although this website offers paid courses, this one comes for free. Here is the curriculum.

Copywriting course from Eduonix

Copywriting course from Eduonix

As you can see, this copywriting course covers technical details. Its presentation is fairly simple and straightforward, which some of you may find a bit, eh boring?

Personally, I found the overedited narrator’s voice to be a little unstimulating, but the copywriting course content is a good beginning point for you.

If Eduonix is not your cup of tea, you can take this copywriting course on CopyHackers website. It was created by a copywriter and author of “Copy Hackers” Joanna Wiebe. In the right column on the page, you will find a detailed list of video lessons with transcripts, and they cover just about any question you could ever have about copywriting.

Joanna’s style is very spontaneous and conversational – which is something you may prefer to Eduonix. This is only a small part of her tutorials.

Copywriting course from Copyhackers

After you are done with these courses, which could take you between one week and two months, you will have a solid theoretical ground for writing your first paid copy. So what comes next? This is not where your copywriting courses end – it is where your own ones begin. Let’s see how.

How to develop your copywriting skills

Create a portfolio

While you are doing the copywriting courses, don’t just take notes – try to put them into action. Create copy samples for each lesson you take. Ask people around for their opinion and put the best samples in your portfolio.

You need these copies because clients usually ask for samples before they hire you – if you are inexperienced, it doesn’t mean you should offer your services empty-handed.

copywriter portfolio

If you want to see some good examples of copywriter portfolio (which can also be used for your Hubspot registration), click here.

Start freelancing

Register on websites like Upwork and Fiverr and look for copywriting jobs. The competition is abundant, but with the right proposal and with a little bit of patience, you will start landing your first copywriting gigs.

copywriter jobs

As you put theory into practice, these gigs will be your next-level copywriting courses. Don’t get mad if your client is asking for revisions – this is a perfect opportunity to learn more about copywriting and freelancing. Furthermore, each time you get a specific copywriting task, you will be in a situation to deepen your knowledge.

For example, if your client needs email marketing services this detailed copywriting course will have you covered.

Read a lot

Don’t limit yourself to courses – try to learn something new each day by reading books and blogs relevant in the marketing industry. Truthfully, the digital content industry is oversaturated. Maybe you will feel frustrated reading dozens of blogs with little to no actionable advice or value.

Zest

My personal recommendation for avoiding this type of content is reading blogs by LeadQuizzes, HubSpot, and Ahrefs. On top of that, you can install this handy little tool called Zest.

Their team curates user-suggested content and brings you plenty of fresh, well written, informative articles from the world of marketing. Furthermore, you can also use Zest to promote your own content and gather some valuable clicks.

Be eclectic

If this is a new word for you, then this piece of advice is the most important one. Don’t limit yourself to reading about marketing. Copywriters who live in their industry bubbles filled with conversions, CPCs, and CTRs slowly forget how to talk to people who don’t live in those bubbles (read: most people). And that equals failure because you are not selling to marketers, you are selling to regular folks.

The Economist good copy

So read about health, politics, economy or science. Read literary classics. You never know what type of copy your next gig is going to be. A humorous literary reference in the right place on some bookstore’s landing page can drive email subscriptions and sales to the roof. Knowing current political situation in the world can help you write a compelling copy for a humanitarian organization.

Being well-rounded and educated will give your content an edge and substance that will help you differentiate from your competitors.

Conclusion

I cannot guarantee that anything I suggested will turn you into a millionaire overnight or even in a year. Turning freelancing into a steady source of work and income takes a lot of time, patience and trial and error.

This is why copywriting courses feel so much better – they offer quick solutions, but the truth is elsewhere. Courses can be paid for. Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft.

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Build Your Email List By 100K This Year Using Quizzes

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